An embarrassing report

Our opinion: A sloppy new report on regulatory reform in New York only hurts the discussion.

The message seems astounding: New York is the second most expensive state to do business in, and its roughly 750,000 regulations cost the state economy $274 billion a year. And here, suggests a report by the Senate Majority Coalition, are 2,219 examples of burdensome regulations that could go.

Released last week by the Republicans and independent Democrats who run the Senate, the 136-page report was compiled from surveys and forums across the state last year. The authors say they had hoped to identify 1,000 unnecessary regulations, but responses were so overwhelming that they more than doubled their goal.

Unfortunately, reading beyond the press release reveals a compilation of complaints, pet peeves, and political rhetoric. As a blueprint for reform in the ongoing and legitimate discussion of how to make government work better, it’s useless.

Among its proposals and assertions:

Legalize sports betting in bars. It’s happening anyway, so cut out the oftregulation that makes it illegal.

End taxes on cigarettes, beer and gasoline and drop just about every other regulation governing convenience stores, to even the playing field with shops on Native American lands. (A budget hole? Never mind that.)

No longer require insurers to cover one mammogram per year for women over the age of 40 because “evidence shows that annual exams are not necessary for many women before the age of 50.” What evidence? Yearly mammograms for healthy women are recommended starting at age 40 by both the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.

Animal care regulations are unnecessary because they are often burdensome and provide little benefit to the animal. Besides, “farmers take pride in the treatment of their animals.”

Many items are just familiar slogans without specifics: “Advance meaningful tort reform.” And, “Amend the mandated reporting requirements under the NY SAFE Act.” Some are so vague that they’re useless: “Reduce costs for businesses operating in New York State.” Oh, well, okay.

The problem with this report is that by including so many duplicative, ambiguous and ludicrous assertions, reasonable suggestions are lost.

Even the claim of the cost of regulations is suspect. It was reached by “extrapolating” from a 2009 study in California.

It’s worth noting that the presumably burdensome regulations cited in the report include pollution oversight and reporting requirements for chemical firms. The report’s release came amid a crisis in West Virginia in which a chemical spill left more than 300,000 people unable to drink, bathe with or even come into contact with their tap water for days — a disaster blamed in part on lax regulations.

We could use a reasonable and thorough discussion of regulatory reform in New York. But for all the taxpayer money spent on this report, it does not get us a step closer to that goal.

4 Responses

This report by the republicans indirectly tells you what the real problem is in New York: politicians who put their interests and the interests of their campaign contributors ahead the good of the people they are supposed to serve.